This Blog is being updated by Travis's Mom with pictures and weekly emails received as he serves a 2 year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Fukuoka, Japan from May 2013-May 2015.
Travis would love to hear from you. Letters and packages should be mailed to him via USPS only. His address in Fukuoka, Japan is (each comma represents a new line):
Elder Travis J. Bloomfield,
Japan Fukuoka Mission,
9-16 Hirao-josuimachi,
Chuo-Ku,
Fukuoka-shi, Fukuoka,
810-0029, Japan

Monday, April 27, 2015

This week was interesting. We had the iPad trainings in Kagoshima, Yamaguchi, Fukuoka, and Okinawa. Fun facts of the week. #1. We found an $80 flight to Okinawa. That rickety old airplane barely made it there. #2. We barely even made it on the $80 flight because Elder Hoskins and I were almost arrested at the airport. That was fun!! Not!! Elder Hoskins forgot he had his knife in the pocket of his backpack, and lucky for us it was a good 8 cm one which apparently is illegal to even carry around in Japan. Hah They ran the backpack through the scanner about 3 or 4x and kept asking us do you have a knife? And we just kept telling them of course not why would we have a knife. But, haha then Elder Hoskins remembered he had the knife from fishing still in there and the next thing we knew, there were about 5 security guards around us. Luckily, after explaining we were just gaijin missionaries, and then being complimented on our Japanese, they let us go 5 mins. before our plane took off. Lucky for us, President had already gone through security and went to his gate so he didn't see any of it :) But the trainings went well. Got to see Sasaki choro again one last time. He sure is a good man!

We worked with the Ginowan and Naha Zone Leaders a little bit while down in Okinawa. Funny/cool prayer experience we had. One of the other companionships was having a baptism at 1pm so we only had an hour 12-1pm to go finding with them, but we set a goal to find someone to bring to the baptism. We prayed and felt like we should work towards a specific traffic light, so we prayed again and planned with God to work in the direction of the traffic light and be there at about 12:50pm and prayed that person would be put in our path. So, we tried talking to everyone we could, and close to the traffic light just after 12:50 we heard someone yell "hey are you the Mormons?? I'm Judy from Taiwan!" We talked with Judy who is most likely one of the most entertaining/genki persons I've met in a while. We were pretty surprised when we first met her, she told us she went to the English class missionaries taught in Taiwan and she recently came to Okinawa and had actually been praying to find the Mormon church again. We asked her if she wanted to go check out the church and she just started jumping up and down in excitement. Then as we were walking to the church I explained there was going to be a baptism, and how she would be able to feel peace during the baptism and she just told us "today is the best day ever!" She was super funny and said many hilarious things as we brought her to the church and talked about the gospel. More evidence that God is listening and watching you always. If you simply reach out to Him, He will help you.

Hope everyone is doing well and genki!

Elder Bloomfield

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I told my "new" friend Judy I had to leave to catch a flight and she thought I mean't I was going home to America, so she got all excited and wanted to take a picture with me.

I didn't have time to spit, I had to brush on the go.

This is the last picture with Sasaki choro. It was taken just before leaving Okinawa.

The following are some pictures that were taken by Uchida shimai that she sent me.

Well this week we officially started off the digital age in our mission. At MLC we trained all the Zone and Sister Training Leaders about the iPads and such.

Also this week Elder Hoskins went to take his drivers test. All went well until he ended up driving on the right side of the road. Ha ha. He ended up passing the second time.

The DMV always brings great opportunities though. You sit there for 4 hours with all the other people waiting to take your drivers test, so there is no where for them to go. It works out great every time. Please pray for Taka san, Kawachi san, Yudonho, Takehara and his friends, and Kasamura. Please pray for them that they will be able to come to church tomorrow!

Well I hope everyone is doing well! This week we will start the specialized trainings and go to each Zones for the next few weeks. We've got some errands to run but I hope everyone is doing well!

Saturday, April 11, 2015

So not much time. We were watching General Conference on the projector here in the office but we heard some members doing yard work outside of the temple and I got so excited! So we paused General Conference to go and help clean the temple grounds and I got to do some yard work again. It has been so long, it was awesome!

Anyways not much time because we need to head out soon but this last week was basically just transfer stuff (training the Trainers, new missionary orientation, returning missionary stuff, etc.) Elder Saski was transferred to Okinawa for the last 2 transfers of his mission. We are no longer companions. Elder Hoskins from St. George, Utah is my new companion.

Last Sunday the mission was blessed with many Easter miracles. We had some mission goals of helping investigators with baptismal dates as well as member friends and other non members to come to church on Easter to learn about the relevance of Easter! At all of the churches in the mission we had a special Sunday School to teach about the Atonement and Resurrection, and show everyone the 'He Lives' video. In addition, Saturday night all the missionaries in the mission all said a special prayer that the spirit would guide people in need of this gospel to come to church on Sunday, and on Sunday there were so many people throughout the mission that "met the missionaries a long time ago..." and "just decided" to come to church that day! It was so amazing to see the Lord do His work. On Easter Sunday as a mission the Sacrament Meeting attendance for non members as well as baptisms was more than 3 or 4x the average of most other weeks! We were truly blessed and I know many people and hearts were comforted as they learned of the hope and blessings the gospel brings.

General Conference has been awesome so far. Hope everyone is doing well! Give a lil service this week and your problems will go away.

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

This week was good. Basically we just did transfer prep and such. I attached a picture that Kaicho took of us. I will share a quick story about it.

We don't have a lot of our own dendo time as assistants, so we are always praying specifically that the Lord will put in our path people who are at a time in their life where they really need the gospel. Lately we have been blessed with various experiences of the Lord guiding these kinds of specific people into our path. We were taking a quick break from all our transfer prep and so we went to the top of the hill (behind the temple) to take pictures of Sakura (Cherry Blossoms) before they all end and we ended up meeting this man. I won't share everything we talked about because it was kind of personal but after talking to this man for a bit he ended up sharing with us that all of his children have passed away recently from sudden events and it has left him in a very difficult spot. My heart really hurt for him as we talked to him and he explained his troubles in life and the pain he feels. But he recognized the hope and truth from the blessings we promised to him and we saw him light up as he told us he has been searching for help and will come to church next week. It is sometimes surprising to me that God trusts us teenagers/young adults to comfort those who are in need but I am so thankful! It is interesting to think about sometimes that there are 40 or 50 or even 80 year old people who come to 20 year old boys and girls for answers to help with things they have been struggling with for years. The truth is in the message we share and for all people! We didn't know but apparently Kaicho went on a quick walk to get some exercise and found us and took these pictures as we were talking to him.

God answers prayers and this gospel blesses lives. There is no feeling greater than seeing the hope and peace people feel as they trust in the Lord and receive the blessings of the gospel no matter how difficult their life may be. Alma 26:37! ( 37 Now my brethren, we see that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth. Now this is my joy, and my great thanksgiving; yea, and I will give thanks unto my God forever. Amen). I just don't get how God is so smart sometimes! So genious!

Love you all and stay genki!

Elder Bloomfield

Pictures Kaicho took of Travis and Elder Sasaki visiting with the gentleman in the Park.

Not quite as big as the tree!!

Beautiful Sakura (Cherry Blossoms)

People in Japan love Sakura season. They all take picnics to the park and sit under the Sakura Trees.

Close Up

Not sure why his hand is on his head.

The Fukuoka LDS Temple, Sakura and Elder Bloomfield. Three of Gods Awesome creations!!!

This week was great. Last Sunday we accompanied Kaicho to attend the Kagoshima District Conference and it was arguably one of the happiest days on my mission so far. I had the opportunity to see many of the people we had the opportunity to teach and see get baptized, actively serving in their callings, see the light and happiness they are having in their life and how much they have changed as they have continued to endure to the end. When we first pulled up to the church Yamauchi Kyodai saw Elder Sasaki and I and started jumping up and down. Ha ha Such a cute old man, but he was fulfilling his responsibility and helping out the the Elder's Quorum. Irisa Shimai has made a choir in Kagoshima and they had the special musical number in the District Conference which was way super good. Uchida Shimai was also part of the choir and helped out with Relief Society stuff. Then! randomly Hidekazu kun (he was baptized the week I was transferred to Kagoshima) happened to be home from school and the 1 week he could attend church was last Sunday. He told us how he went through the temple in November, and received the Melchezidek Priesthood last month. He is super genki and his faith is so strong. It also just so happened that he had had something he had been wondering about but needed help with and because we happened to be in Kagoshima at the same time he was excited to get our advice and felt like Heavenly Father was really looking out for him. But it was just awesome to see the change that has taken place in these people and just their countenance that we could see since we last met them. The gospel of Jesus Christ stays true to its promise, if you just simply trust and rely on the Lord you find more happiness and light in your life.

Other than that this week we just had our last Zone Conferences and then went on a bunch of splits with elders in the mission. By the end of the week we will have worked with I think 6 or 7 different companionships. As always there are super cool miracles on splits.

Hmm well one of them, the Elder I was working with and I were praying the night before in planning specifically for a man in need of the gospel. As we looked at the map we saw a park and felt we should go there, so we made the plan and told the Lord we would work to the south east corner of the park at exactly 2:30 the next day and when we got there the next day at the exact corner we were thinking of, there just so happened to be a bench with a business man sitting there (little bit out of place to be in a park but I won't judge). We talked to him about Christ and showed him "Because of Him" and he told us that he is an salesman but lately work has been very difficult and he decided to come to the park today to just kind of recoup, but seeing "Because of Him" gave him hope to move on and continue on in life and told us he wants to start bringing his family to church. Coincidence? hmmm... the Lord is hastening His work and all you have to do to participate is open your mouth!

Hope you are all doing well!

Elder Bloomfield

Elder Sasaki, Yamauchi Kyodai (it got a lil toasty after church so the tie came off) and Travis

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

I don't really have much time because we don't really have a p day today because we had the conference. But it was super good. They did talk about the iPads and such, and I am super excited. for how ipads will help in the mission as well but more for what it will do for each missionary. A large reason for having the iPads is to help us young kids make good technology habits and create healthy choices that will stay with us for the rest of our life. That is what I'm most excited about. It's just super sad when you see a family all out together, or a group of friends, and none of them are even talking to each other because they are slaves to their iphone or whatever device they are caring with them. Obviously these things can help us in so many ways but when we let them control what we do, we are no better than a cocaine addict, controlled by the substances we use. Each missionary will be able to create good habits and use these devices when it is effective and when it is not don't use it. Super Cool!! The cool thing is, yes.... the ipad does have some filters on it to help out, but the filters Elder Ringwood and Elder Nelson said they focus on, are the ones that have the strongest effect to weed out any of the bad stuff and 3 of those filters are 1. Our personal testimony, 2. The Holy Ghost, and 3. Mission rules/commandments. After we use those filters, there are the technology filters and reporting filters and such but the first 3 filters will stay with us for our entire life. Not to mention they are free.

After that Elder Nelson spoke to us about Christ and his many names, and who he really is. As I listened and learned from him I truly felt as if I were hearing from a close friend of Christ's, someone who associates with Him often, as if Elder Nelson were one of the first 12 apostles who walked and talked and learned directly from Christ. He is a funny man as well. It was nice to listen to him. I didn't take any pictures or anything. Nothing to show just a lot more knowledge and memories. Their sacrifice as an Apostle is enormous. I feel so bad for them sometimes. Just normal men but because of their strong desire to serve Christ they are instead treated like celebrities. They can't go out in public and can't just do normal things with their family, always having body guards and such, they can't walk down a street or just get a normal haircut without people wanting to take pictures of them, all because of the desire to do the right thing and serve the Lord. They are super otsukaresama.

Well hope you're all doing well!

Elder Bloomfield

Elder Russell M. Nelson

This is an email I received from Tomoko Uchida Shimai. She is such a sweet sister and sooooo good to the missionaries.

Dear Kris.

How have you been?

Is everyone in your family doing well?
Your family is wonderful.

I saw him after a long absence,and I'm glad to see him looking well.
Being with him makes me feel relaxed and calm. It’s a very good atmosphere when I’m with him.

I heard that you will come to Japan in May.
I am eagerly waiting for you to come to Japan.

Sorry we were flying back from Okinawa yesterday and had stuff we had to do so there wasn't any time for p day or email. So I am shooting off a quick email before we head to church.

This week we just had Zone Trainings and such. Monday we went to Kumamoto, Tuesday was Nagasaki and we were in Okinawa from Wednesday to Saturday. It was super good. We did two Zone Trainings but also had time to work with some of the elders down there. We got to work with the Ginowan Zone Leaders, the Naha Zone Leaders, and the Oroku Elders. As always when you are on companion exchanges there were super cool miracles so it was awesome being down there.

Also, yes Mom, Teh Sook (my dear friend Teh Sook Wright that was my counselor in the RS Presidency in Korea that now lives in Okinawa) came to visit me and not only that but she yelled "Hey Kyle!!" and gave me a hug without any notice. Seems even an ocean away I can't escape being called by my older brothers name. Also I don't even know what she was thinking about hugging me, pretty sure she knows the missionary rules. Ha ha just joking. She was super funny and super kind. She brought some snacks and such for me and told me she wrapped it up so no one would take it from me, don't tell her but I just ended up giving most of it away anyways. The other missionaries were quite excited about it so I figured they would like them. She was most excited to give me the oreos and the butterfingers though so I kept them. Did she send you the picture? She took a picture with me and said she would send it. Will you forward it to me so I can give it to the other missionaries that were in the picture?

Any way I hope all is well. This week Elder Nelson (the Apostle) will be coming to do a training on iPads to our mission. So we will excitedly be preparing lots of stuff for that. I have to say the closing prayer at the meeting with him... I'm thinking maybe I should prepare the talk/prayer before hand!

FYI for mom. No, no one in the mission will pay for ipads (on the missionary Moms google group, the mother's were asking if anyone knew if the missionaries would have to pay for their own ipads). They have changed their mind and the ipads will be church owned. The church will pay for them and then we will give them back when we go home. You can tell all your mom friends not to worry them lil selves out. Have an awesome week and keep sharing the happiness! Easter is just around the corner!

Sorry I didn't have much time to write last week. We played soccer and had a baptism, so I didn't get time to email.

Lots of miracles and learned things this week. Well first off this week we had a training for the new trainers on Monday, then quickly prepared for MLC training, then a had MLC (Mission Leadership Council) meeting and trained there on Tuesday, then we had Wednesday to prepare for our next 2 and a half weeks worth of Zone Taikai trainings. Once again our topic was changed the night before we left. It's now the 3rd time that has happened that the night before the trainings start the next day, our training topic will get changed. So that makes for a fun time, but it has always worked out super well. It is by revelation and always what the missionaries needed most, so despite how unprepared we may feel, the spirit always helps us out as we are open for guidance, which is a huge blessing. Thursday we went to Yamaguchi and Friday we went to Kagoshima.

Another big lesson I was reminded of this week is how important living righteously and worthy of the spirit is. When we got to Kagoshima we found out one of our previous investigators found out we were coming and wanted to meet us just for a bit. So she came to the train station after Zone Conference. We found out the reason that she wanted to meet with us was because she has been going down a bad path in her life lately, doing things she knows is wrong, and when she heard we were coming to Kagoshima she remembered the person she used to be and explained the feelings she felt were different from how she feels now. It was a huge reminder to me and made me think of how thankful I am that I am living with the spirit in my life. We don't always think about it, but the spirit we are blessed to live with, is not just felt by us, but is felt by those around us as well and is sometimes even a bigger blessing for them than for us. Our friend recognized that she used to have these feelings all the time when she met with us, but it has been a while and she could feel the difference and wanted to change. We were able to talk to her about a few things and what she can do to feel this peace and happiness in her heart often again and in the end it was a way cool experience for us.

So remember every decision you make has a larger effect than you realize. You don't know when the Lord will call upon you and when you will make that impression on others. If there are changes you need to make, make them now, because there are people waiting for you.

Well this week will be short because we have stuff we have to go do, but anyway this week was good. Mostly just transfer prep stuff and transfers with Kaicho. Here in Japan when we buy airplane tickets for transfers, we take a receipt to a Convenience Store and we can pay for them there, but the airline company we always by from is merging so our cheep tickets unfortunately went away as well. So this time we ended having to buy about $6,000 worth of airplane tickets for all of transfers at the Convenience Store. Needless to say, the college kid who was working at the time was pretty surprised. In regards to transfers Kaicho didn't mention anything about me so it looks like I will be here in the office. I am healthy and happy, miracles all around!

So this week was filled with some prep for the Mission Tour and then the mission tour. If you haven't noticed yet, we have a lot of trainings in this mission. We had two separate trainings this transfer (interview trainings and General Authority mission tour) and next transfer we will also have two separate trainings (Zone Conferences and a Specialized training) so unfortunately a lot of our extra time we have while not doing the trainings, is spent preparing for them.

But this week Elder Whiting of the Quorum of the Seventy did a mission tour and did some trainings and checked up on our mission. He is a jokester, but super powerful and you can just feel he is a servant of God when you are near him. Cool experience, he asked us to prepare for the trainings, by praying and thinking about a question you want the answer to through the conference. At the beginning of each of the conference he explained how he was here on request to represent the apostles and therefore was here on apostolic authority. and with that authority gives everyone in the room the right to receive revelation. I prepared for the training with two questions I was hoping to be answered, one about doctrine, and another about a question I had regarding to my calling as Assistant right now.

In the first half of the conference both questions were answered. My doctrine question he started talking about it, and then all the sudden he turned right to me and was like "what do you think Elder Bloomfield?" It was like he was reading my soul! 本当に素晴らしいこの教会のしどうしゃは。。。The second answer came completely irrelevant to what he was talking about but understanding that came to me as I listened to him. So since both questions were answered by lunch, during lunch I thought of 2 more questions and prayed about them. and guess what happened... I was able to receive more guidance on these subjects as well. needless to say it was a huge learning experience for me. I really took the words written in D&C 9:7 (7 Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me) to heart and made the goal to try to come to every church meeting (Sacrament Meeting, Priesthood Meeting, any meeting where the spirit will be present) with a question or looking for guidance. These meetings aren’t intended just for pleasure or entertainment. God cares for us much more than that. He wants to guide us and as we come to each meeting with a question in mind, about life, or doctrine,or any guidance, through the spirit present in the meeting it will be revealed to us. Often times we just expect well I am going to church today, I'm doing what I'm supposed to, why can't I figure this out? Why isn't life going better? But in the D&C God has told us we have ask.

Anyways that was basically this week. This week Kaicho told me I will either go back out next transfer or stay in the office till I die. He said that he wants to keep me here till I die because the mission is doing really well right now, but asked me how I felt about it. I really really want to be outside working all day, I have a lot of fire built up from these last few transfers, but I told him I would do whatever the Lord wants me to do, so we will see what Kaicho decides when we start transfer stuff in a couple of days.

Hope everyone is doing genki. Oh also Happy Valentines! Thanks for the neat cards. Ha ha I found a special request from Olivia (actually it was from Cassi) not to throw her card in the trash, so tell her no worries I will keep it.

Also I found out a couple of weeks ago one of the sisters in the Fukuoka Zone named Sister Curtis apparently is good friends with the Packers and Michelle. She gave me a solid brownie recipe I'm excited for. Small World we Mormons live in.

We got to return to Kagoshima! The weather was perfect and our beloved volcano Sakurajima was blowing ash strong as ever. Apparently recent gas readings show that it may soon have an unusual large explosion similar to one they had in like 2003 or something that will create problems of lots and lots of ash.

But anyways it was fun to be back. Both of the trainings we did there were super good and the Spirit was way strong. Sasuga Kagoshima. Here are some cool experiences we had there, we got to see both Yamauchi Kyodai and Irisa Shimai! Yamauchi Kyodai was the man Elder Sasaki and I found that first said "ya~ shukyo kyomi nai node..." "I don't have interest in religion, so please leave..." then by the middle of the contact was like "well I've sometimes wondered about Christianity before" and then by the end of the contact said "well I'm pretty much free all the time so you can come back anytime!" then when we went back for the first appointment he told us he did not understand why but he said he began to cry as he first read the Book of Mormon before our appointment and felt so strong inside him. He has no family and has been living alone for awhile, but saw a huge change in his life as he started feeling God's love and coming to church (he's kind of an older guy and to get to church he takes like a 30-40 min trolley ride then does the 20 min walk up the mountain to get to church every week). He was super cute. He was way excited to see us and was just giggling and swaying back and forth like a little kindergartener when we were talking to him. Ha ha it was way funny. He was super genki and the best part was he was wearing a beanie, but it was a little large... so every time he would laugh or giggle, his head would shake and the beanie would fall down and cover half of his face, so basically most the time we were talking he kept lifting the beanie up over his face. It was nice to see him though.

After the interviews and trainings President was going to get some dinner with one of the Senior Couples before we went back to Fukuoka, so we got permission to go to Irisa Shimai's cafe to see her and have dinner real quick while they ate dinner at the eki. It was a super good experience. She is doing super strong and is helping the Kagoshima Branch so much. I think the biggest thing I learned from our trip back to Kagoshima is we never understand the bigger plan. The plan God has for us and for others. We have no clue sometimes the effect or influence we may be having on others just by the simple things we think we are doing, but for them and for God's plan, it is exactly what they need to continue on or make that change. Irisa Shimai cried a lot of the time we were there and explained to us how before we met her, she didn't really feel much purpose, and her cafe was still getting started so they were kind of struggling. But through the gospel, not only has she found purpose, feels God's influence everyday, but she said her cafe is doing better than she had hoped. Her vision for her company was to have a place where young people could come and work or find a place to start their own visions. Apparently there was an entrepreneur who heard about her cafe cause it has been getting kind of bigger lately, and the day he happened to come and check out the location, the missionaries happened to have a training meeting that day and all came there for lunch, so the cafe was filled and the entrepreneur was super impressed and approached Irisa Shimai with the offer to start a sweets business in that location where the cafe would be and Irisa Shimai would be able to continue her cafe at a nearby location. She has also started a choir in the Kagoshima Branch so they can finally have special musical numbers in Sacrament Meeting every now and then. When we were visiting with her she had a friend there and after we introduced ourselves she just testified how the gospel had changed her life and helped her and basically set up an appointment to meet with the missionaries there on Thursday.

My testimony was strengthened this week of God's special plan he has for each person. We never know how or when certain things may come to pass, but he is watching us everyday. Simple service is all that is required of us. Taking a moment to forget about ourselves and ask who can I help today? As we begin to make this a daily habit, we are able to touch lives all around us and work as a tool for God in times we don't even realize. If you are looking for more purpose in life, wanting more happiness, I testify to you that all you need to do is forget yourself and ask, "who can I help today?". In the Lord's timing and in His way, you will find yourself being the person you wanted to be, doing the things you had wanted to do, with the happiness you had been looking for.